The Murder-of-the-Month Club

THE MURDER-OF-THE-MONTH CLUBCaptain Monty Chichester, a retired British naval officer, and his wife Isobel run an old boarding house in Whitcliffe-on-the-Sea, a fictional village on the Maine coast. The town is perpetually shrouded in smog, partly due to fog perpetually laying over the harbor and smoke from a local coat factory. Also residing at the inn, besides their beautiful granddaughter Estelle who is the new village librarian, and the Captain's elderly mother, are three roomers...
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THE MURDER-OF-THE-MONTH CLUBCaptain Monty Chichester, a retired British naval officer, and his wife Isobel run an old boarding house in Whitcliffe-on-the-Sea, a fictional village on the Maine coast. The town is perpetually shrouded in smog, partly due to fog perpetually laying over the harbor and smoke from a local coat factory. Also residing at the inn, besides their beautiful granddaughter Estelle who is the new village librarian, and the Captain's elderly mother, are three roomers of advanced age: Fiona Cottsworth, the former librarian; Iris Wimbledon, an actress "at liberty;" and Ben Fawkes, a plumber. They are all immigrants from England so they make up a senior citizen "Little British community" in America. All but Estelle are members of an afternoon club which meets at the inn and takes up diversions such as bridge or whist. Their current "phase" is dissecting murder novels. To the inn comes a young American, Stephen Longcommon, who learns from Captain Chichester that everyone in Whitcliffe is doomed to die -- from the village factory's pollution. Stephen shows concern but is more interested in Estelle. He is liked by those at the inn, but none knows why he has come to Whitcliffe. Isobel, Fiona, and Iris agree they are growing tired of the current phase. Fiona remarks that they have read and analyzed so many murder novels, they know enough about murder to commit the perfect crime. The notion is taken up at the next meeting and all agree that would make a splendid new phase for the club. They agree to do in everyone in Whitcliffe who has to do with the coat factory's pollution. This includes its elderly owner, Horace Dingle; his slightly younger wife Irene; their lawyer Guy Farnsberry (with whom Irene is having an affair); and three public officials on-the-take: Mayor Pim; Health Commissioner Roxbury; and Cyril Spade, chairman of the village Committee on Environmental Control. Six polluters, each marked for death. They will be murdered one-a-month, their name drawn by lot. The murders will take the club members from Spring to Autumn, and Captain Chichester christens them The Murder-of-the-Month Club. But being all good people, the club members agree not to actually murder those on their list. They will plan each murder and even go through a charade toward doing in each victim, but they will not actually murder anyone. To their surprise, each person on their list does die, in the order they vote upon at club meetings, and in manners either identical or similar to those they agreed upon. The club members and the reader wonder if the deaths are accident or, is someone murdering those on their list. If murder, who is the murderer? Is it one of the club members, having gotten carried away with the new phase? Is the murderer someone else? Each person on the murder list has good reason to do in any of the others, and there also are outsiders who might be responsible for the deaths.